Some Houston streets have multiple personalities

Eric Meadows has a pretty easy commute to work from his home in the Heights, but his GPS navigator makes it seem complex.

“It tells me to continue on Waugh,” Meadows said. “I’m on Heights, and it tells me to continue on Waugh. Going straight.”

Much like the occasional confusion over whether Texas Avenue is an avenue, the quirks are more oddity than obstacle, but they still leave some drivers wondering.

Any confusion, at least in this case, is not the GPS device’s fault. A handful of city streets in Houston suffer from a multiple personality disorder, startling unsuspecting drivers by suddenly changing names. Heights Boulevard, part of Meadows’ commuting path to the Uptown area, becomes Waugh Drive around Memorial Drive.

A couple blocks east and in about the same spot near Memorial, Studemont Street turns into Montrose Boulevard. North of that, Studemont turn into Studewood.

The reason for the name shift is usually to tie two local streets together. According to Historic Houston Streets, a fascinating book by Marks Hinton about how local roads got their names, Studemont was created when city officials paved and connected Montrose and Studewood, naming the recently filled-in gap with half of each name, Studemont.

Often, as the city grew and streets left the downtown grid, they followed well-worn paths carved by locals. Sometimes those paths converged and developers and planners just strung what they had together. That’s how Kirby Drive ended up turning into Allen Parkway to move people from their homes to offices.

At the same time, Westheimer Road just keeps going and going and going until a driver ends up in Katy.

12 Responses

Oh, you should check out Scott St. going north from UH. It turns into York/ Sampson, and after it goes over Buffalo Bayou (Buffalo Bayou, Buffalo by me! Name that reference!) it turns into Waco and after it crosses the Liberty Road rail yard bridge it turns into something else, and then I think it turns back into Waco up by the North Loop.

Lockwood, Wayside and Telephone are fascinating old thoroughfares from the pre-freeway days, when Houston meant east of downtown.

Going east to west: Lockwood, then Elgin,then Westheimer. Going south to north: Stella Link, then Weslayan, then Willowick. Also south to north: Buffalo Speedway, then Claremont. West to east: Bellaire then Holcombe Blvd. These are just a few in my neck of the woods.

How about Little York. From East Little York to West Little York. On ELY, the numbers get smaller as you head East; then once on WLY, the numbers begin to increase. Not so odd? BUT, on ELY the ODD numbers are on the SOUTH side of the street; and on WLY they are on the NORTH. They flip! Anyway, I was curious what meridian Little York is East/West of (Northline Drive? but actually I think a block earlier at Meadowshire…).

Wheeler/Richmond (@ Main St)
Bissonett/Binz (@ Main St)
Binz/Calumet (as you cross over the 288)

My favorites are how E-W streets are all shifted by 10 yards or so. The Museum District is notoriously bad for having a straight road. Once you hit Almeda, the streets are 10-20′ off. The same goes when you cross over Main St. Some crazy person decided that you can’t build a straight road. Even the road width changes w/in a matter of a few hundred feet (e.g., Southmore b/c Almeda and San Jacinto loses it’s median when traveling west from Almeda).

My favorite is Braeswood, which jumps the bayou. North Braeswood splits off from South Braeswood between Hillcroft and Fondren. South Braeswood just ends at the Loop. North Braeswood come inside the Loop, then turns into South Braeswood at the railroad tracks. Meanwhile, Beechnut turns into North Braeswood on the other side of the bayou. How did THAT happen?

Actually, when N. Braeswood crosses the bayou, there is a little street that continues on as just Braeswood, twising around Beth Israel synagogue. Another thing: why is it called Braeswood, instead of Brayswood? After all, the street is running along Brays Bayou!

Interesting naming conventions… Ever wonder how subdivisions or municipalities get such odd names for streets? Some name streets after their children, for example. Drive through Bunker Hill Village and you’ll see names like Carl Lane and Jack Lane, or Carolane Trail and Magdalene Road? They’re named for the children of various developers during the area’s inception back in the 50s.

From the Champions area heading south
Bammel North Houston turns in North Houston Roslyn which turns into Bingle. Bingle turns into Voss and then into Hillcroft.
Ta Da! You just made it all the way to the southwest side of Beltway 8